Really engrossing, albeit flawed, experience. A game like this probably would have been better without the sandbox/GTA conventions, though at the same time it's tough to see how they could have done this without it being a sandbox/open world. The "restrictive sandbox" that L.A. Noire sets up is appropriate for this game, but I think this game would have been better as a collection of "mini-sandboxes".

The strengths of this game are the searching of clues, the interrogations, and obviously the plot that drives everything. Driving around L.A. and solving street crimes and searching for items/landmarks is supplemental, but deviates from what drives the game forward. Obviously, it's optional but I think the game would have flowed better without these distractions.

I have similar thoughts with L.A. Noire as I did with Alan Wake, which was originally going to be a sandbox game but dropped that idea in favor of focusing more on the plot. Despite that, I thought Alan Wake had too many "collectible items" that were supplemental to the plot showing up, and I found them distracting. Too often, I found myself deviating from the narrative and searching areas for stuff that may or may not have been there. I feel that for a story-driven experience, anything that deviates from that should be kept to a minimum.

Not exactly clues critical to a case...

While the game started off real slow, I really started to get into L.A. Noire at around the midway point when the cases started to get longer and more complex. In the game's final arc, the multiple storylines of the game start to weave together into a common narrative. The game has a lot of characters that you really get to know and in a lot of respects, you start to feel like you're a part of the LAPD.

Finding and using the clues to solve cases was fun at times, although flawed at other times (sometimes, you find revelations at a crime scene but Phelps won't list it as a "clue"). There are a lot of items at crime scenes, both useless and useful. But I wish the game wasn't so blunt about which clues were important and which one's weren't....if they let you review everything from an unbiased perspective, it would have felt more like you are in control. Instead, even when you failed in an interrogation or missed a clue, the game always throws you a bone to push the narrative forward. Granted, a story-driven game has to have restrictions somewhere on where the direction of the cases go. You can't just screw up every case...

Or maybe it means...EVERYTHING.

Overall, a pretty good game that like any sandbox game has it's share of bugs and glitches. A few times, I got stuck between a car or a wall because my partner stood in my way and wouldn't move. Annoying stuff like that. It didn't really need to be a sandbox game, because the only real use of the large open world is to drive between the locations (which the game let's you skip). Again, it would have been better without any reason to go off-course. The story kept you wanting to keep playing, although you can figure out where everything is heading after 2/3 of the game. I also did not find the ending satisfying at all, considering all of the buildup.

If they make a sequel, I'd recommend spending a lot less development time on the mostly unneeded sandbox and focus more on making the cases more open-ended and giving more power to the player. Maybe instead of street crimes, have more cases that aren't integral to the plot but allow you more flexibility with your investigative skills. If you want to think that a meaningless beer bottle is a clue, you should be allowed to. Or if the game is going to make you find "canned" clues, they should have more clues that make you work a lot harder for. For example, have certain breaks in the case that are determined by you, drawing conclusions based on clues you may have already gathered. "Hidden" clues that will strengthen your case, but you have to go above and beyond to determine these...too much of L.A. Noire seemed intent on making sure you reached the "desired result."

For as many of the game's flaws, it kept me hooked and left me anxious to get out of work and get home and keep playing it. There's a whole host of potential for this to become a successful series, and it should start with getting out of Grand Theft Auto's shadow.